Undergraduate students on track for medical school are often required to take general physics lab courses. Many of these students carry an attitude of obligation into these courses which can make it challenging for instructors to engage students in course material. We address the question: How does engaging with medically based models in introductory physics labs affect pre-med undergraduate perceptions of the modeling process and their perceptions of science? We redesigned an electricity and magnetism lab in an introductory physics lab course, where approximately 70% of the undergraduates reported plans to attend medical school. We situated the lab in the mechanics of MRI magnetic resonance and collected data on the participants’ experiences through surveys and lab submissions. As a part of the analysis, we modified a rubric to evaluate engagement in modeling and applied grounded coding theory to the survey responses to develop themes of the participants’ understanding of scientific modeling. The participants’ understanding and engagement in scientific modeling increased during the newly developed lab and remained high for subsequent labs. We recommend that instructors of undergraduate nonmajor labs consider the demographic of their student population and design lab experiences situated within their interests and focus on central science practices like modeling. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Madeline Harmer

Adam Bennion

Alexandra M. Hopps-McDaniel

Jeannette Lawler

Nathan Powers

Physical Review Physics Education Research

PRPER 涵盖从小学到研究生教育的所有教育水平。接受实验和理论物理教育研究的所有主题，包括但不限于：教育政策教学策略和材料开发研究方法认识论、态度和信念学习环境科学推理和问题解决多样性和包容性学习理论学生参与教师和教师专业发展

Physical Review Physics Education Research covers all levels of education from elementary to graduate school. It accepts both experimental and theoretical research in physics education on a wide range of topics, including but not limited to: educational policy, teaching strategies and materials development, research methods, epistemology, attitudes and beliefs, learning environments, scientific reasoning and problem solving, diversity and inclusion, learning theories, student engagement, and teacher professional development.

《Physical Review Physics Education Research》涵盖从小学到研究生教育的各个层次。该期刊接受与物理教育相关的实验和理论研究，主题包括但不限于：教育政策、教学策略与材料开发、研究方法、认识论、态度与信念、学习环境、科学推理与问题解决、多样性与包容性、学习理论、学生参与以及教师专业发展。

Category	Quartile
教育学	2
教育学, 教育学和教育研究	3
教育学, 学科教育	3

Leveraging scientific modeling to engage pre-med undergraduates in physics lab courses

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Category	Quartile
EDUCATION, SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINES	1